What s the Difference? - Triune Leadership Services

Fall 2017

IN THIS ISSUE:

Coaching Teams and Groups

Coaching a Group or a Team: What's the Difference

Ircel Harrison, D.Min..............1

Coaching a Group or a Team: What's the Difference?

Successful Team Coaching Julie Markese, ACC, CCLC ......4

Dynamics of Team Coaching Cynthia Perkins .......................6

Ircel Harrison, D.Min. Avoiding Team Leader Sabo-

tage

MicheleDyer, ACC, CBC .......... 8

"If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others."

African proverb

For most of us, coaching is a one-to-one relationship--one coach, one cli-

ent. What if you could leverage your time and energy as a coach and apply the same skills you use with one person to working with several individuals at a time?

Consider the possibility of applying those skills you have developed in coaching individuals to a group of individuals. Just one word of caution. As individual clients differ, collections of individuals differ as well. As you consider coaching several people at a time, you must have a clear understanding of the purpose of this collection of people. In most cases, we can identify these people as being part either of a group or of a team. Although we use the terms group and team interchangeably, there is a difference between the two. As a coach, you should know the difference between a group and a team. I want you to consider a model for coaching either a group or a team, and identify skills to use in each setting.

What's the difference between a group and a team? The primary focus of a group is personal growth and develop-

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Coaching Senior Leadership Teams to Unleash Their Spiritual Chemistry Mark Deterding. ......................10

Three Different Forms of MultiPerson Coaching Michael Cheuk, D.Min, Ph.D ..14

Expanding Your Influence Through Group Coaching Kevin Stebbings, PCC..............16

Some Ethical Considerations for Group and Team Coaching Michael J. Marx.......................19

Avoid 3 Common Mistakes of Group Coaching John Ramstead........................21

ment. Although groups vary in their leadership style, purpose, content, commitment and process, they are places where individuals can practice self-discovery while learning from the experiences of others. People in groups provide support for each other as they pursue their individual goals. Some examples are accountability groups, Bible study groups, and support groups. Groups may be either formal or informal in structure.

Teams are primarily focused on task achievement. Teams go by many names--committee, staff, ministry team, work group, task force--but they tend to be task-oriented, focusing the resources of participants on a specific goal. Teams are often parts of a formal organizational structure with specific assignments or goals assigned to them. Individuals are on the team because it is part of their job, they believe in the work of the organization, or they want to work with others to accomplish something important to them.

What are things to consider in coaching a group or a team? As you bring your coaching skills to bear in working with a group or a team, you should consider some of the characteristics of each.

Although participants can encourage and support one another in a group, the goal is usually individual development within a group context. The vision, values, and purposes are individual in nature, and there is a clear "I" focus--"What am I going to get out of this?" The relationships in a group are usually short term.

In working with teams, a coach should remember the opportunity for both team and individual development. The coach works with the team to articulate a shared vision and purpose, to identify common team values, and to develop a "We" focus based on on-going relationships. At the same time, the coach realizes that each member of the group is a unique individual. The challenge is to help the individual to bring the best he or she can offer to the success of the team.

A Model for Coaching Groups and Teams There are many models for the coaching process or conversation. Pinnacle Leadership Associates has developed the Disciple Development Coaching? model (Mark Tidsworth and Ircel Harrison, Disciple Development Coaching: Christian Formation for the 21st Century) based on the following steps:

? Step One: ASK--"What would you like to gain from our conversation?" ? Step Two: LISTEN--Be attentive to words AND their meaning. ? Step Three: EXPLORE--Seek options. ? Step Four: DESIGN--Identify action steps that lead to accomplishing the goal(s). ? Step Five: COMMIT--"How ready are you to commit to this?" ? Step Six: SUPPORT--Build support base and provide accountability.

When applied to coaching groups and teams, the model might be structured in this way. We begin with the Ask and Listen steps to establish trust and to provide clarity through active listening and powerful questioning. In the Explore and Design phase, the coach uses the skills of creating awareness, design planning, and goal setting to help the group or team move forward. The Commit and Support level is where the skill of managing progress and accountability ? based on ICF's core competencies ? is used.

Application to Coaching Groups As the coach works with groups, the Ask and Listen stage provides the opportunity for community-building in the group. Not only must the group members trust the coach in order to be successful, they must trust each other. As the group moves into the Explore and Design phase, they share and plan together with the encouragement of the coach. Finally, in the Commit and Support level, they try out new behaviors, practice new ideas, and report back to the group for debriefing.

Some Ask and Listen questions to build a sense of community in the group and bring fresh insights to members might be:

? "If your house were on fire and you could only save two things (assuming people and pets are safe), what would that be?"

? "If money were no problem, you had all the time you needed, and there were no health limitations or other obstacles, what would you do?"

? "When was a time when you felt really close to God?"

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Explore and Design Questions to go deeper with a group include: ? "What's your response to this challenge?" ? "What difference would practicing this behavior make in your life?" ? "What can you do this week to make this practice/truth/teaching a part of your life?"

Application is facilitated by these Commit and Support Questions: ? "Who can come alongside you to help you make this part of your life?" ? "Who do you need to share this with?" ? "How can we support you in this effort?"

Application to Coaching Teams In coaching a team (no matter what the term used for the entity), the coach uses the Ask and Listen phase to clarify the purpose of the team: "Why does our team exist?" The Explore and Design step assists the team in considering options and planning to accomplish its task: "What will we do and how will we do it?" Finally, the Commit and Support state is the time of implementation, feedback, and accountability: "Who will do what and how will we support each other?"

Ask and Listen Questions that a coach might ask a team (or lead them to ask themselves) are: ? "What is our task?" ? "Who is involved?" ? "What does each of us offer to achieve the task?"

In the Explore and Design phase, these questions could be asked: ? "What are our resources?" ? "How will we do it?" ? "When will we do it?" ? "When will we know that we have succeeded?"

During the Commit and Support state, the coach encourages the team to ask these questions: ? "Who will be responsible?" ? "How can we best help each other?" ? "What are our milestones?" ? "How will we celebrate our accomplishments?"

Summary In working with a client, a coach seeks to help the person become more than he or she has been. Through the coaching conversation, the client discovers untapped potential and finds new ways to apply this in his or her life.

The skills that make a coach successful in working with individual clients to become better persons can be used in working with groups and teams as well. In a group or team setting, a coach can help to leverage the synergy in the gathering. The whole becomes much more than its individual parts. When effectively facilitated, groups and teams can accomplish many things. Coaches can help make this happen.

Questions for reflection:

? What are the groups or teams of which you have been a part? What was your favorite group or team? Why?

? What has been your experience in leading or facilitating groups or teams? Have you used coaching skills in these responsibilities?

? Why are some teams and groups effective and others not? How could coaching make a difference?

Ircel Harrison is Coaching Coordinator for Pinnacle Leadership Associates (Columbia, SC) and Supplemental Faculty in Contextualization at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Shawnee, KS). He and his wife, Rita, live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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Successful Team Coaching

Julie Markese, ACC, CCLC

A few months ago, a pastor called me and asked if I would be willing to coach his pastoral staff.

They were all passionate, gifted, and young (only one person besides the pastor was over forty), yet they were finding it difficult to work together as a team. Part of the issue stemmed from a change in the team dynamic. In the previous year, the team had experienced a lot of changes, including some staff leaving and new staff being hired. The pastor was concerned that they seemed unable to make progress in their staff meetings. They had taken an evaluation and wanted to know how the results could help them work better together. I told him I would be glad to coach his team, and arranged to meet twice over the next month.

Most of my work as a coach is with teams, and the dynamic is very different from one-on-one coaching. In one -on-one coaching, the coach and the client take time in the coaching session to craft the goals for the coaching hour. With team coaching, on the other hand, the goals of a coaching session are generally set by the pastor, the coach, or some other leader before the coaching session begins. This difference changes the initial focus from determining what the goals are, to how goals will be accomplished. In this case, there were six people sitting around the table with wildly different perspectives, ideas, and approaches to the agreed-upon goal. My job was to create a safe space for collaboration and consensus. This is what I love about coaching teams.

For this team to succeed, they had to move from talking about what needed to be done to acting on it. I approached this assignment by concentrating on:

1. discerning their culture 2. building trust 3. establishing accountability

Discern the culture In simple language, culture consists of what is important to a group of people and how they normally get things done. The results of the evaluations the team took helped to pinpoint what was important to them, or their values. With some coaching, their individual identities began to emerge.

Values motivate behavior. I needed to coach them to an understanding of the impact their values had on how they got things done, and how a difference in values within the team could keep them from accomplishing their goals. For example, the administrator was very good at her job, but what she was really passionate about

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was her work with the junior high students. The team

began to realize that she spent most of her time doing a job she didn't love, which resulted in her interactions with them as an administrator seeming perfunctory. She

For this team to succeed, they had to move from

was unable to devote adequate time to what was really

talking about what needed

important to her, and it affected the team culture. Within minutes, the team came up with ways to free up more

to be done to acting on it.

time for her to spend with her junior high students.

Throughout the coaching session, a picture of the team's culture began to emerge. We focused on the

strengths each person brought to the team and how they could appreciate and accommodate each other's

differences.

Build trust A few weeks before I began working with this team, a friend had posted on her Facebook page an article about research Google had done on what made teams effective. In her blog post, "The five keys to a successful Google team," Julia Rozovsky listed "psychological safety" at the top; team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other (2015, November 17. Retrieved from https:// rework.blog/five-keys- to-a- successful-google- team/). I decided to use this research as a way to introduce the importance of trust in teams. I asked each member to contribute to the conversation by recounting an instance when they either felt they were heard or not heard by the rest of the team. No blame would be assigned. A few described instances when they felt misunderstood or ignored, leaving them feeling frustrated and unproductive. One member talked about his inability to share his feelings about a devastating family crisis. Everyone listened. No one interrupted. As each one listened and showed sensitivity to the others, trust was building. As trust began to develop, members began to contribute in more creative ways to the conversations we were having about accomplishing their goals. They began to feel safe enough to be themselves, and it inspired innovation and productivity. This team is impressive; each member is highly creative and exceptionally passionate. It was fun to see the team dynamic improve as they began to trust and respect each other.

Establish accountability We addressed the idea of accountability at our second and final meeting. Everyone acknowledged that this element was missing in their culture and team dynamic. Work was assigned, but no one really knew how the work was accomplished or if it was done with excellence. The team wanted to get away from operating under a "tyranny of the urgent" mindset and plan to be more strategic in their use of time and resources.

We focused on establishing accountability by taking a closer look at work roles. The team decided to define work roles more clearly, taking into account how they wanted to accomplish their goals. The team as a whole agreed upon the new roles. Rather than adhering to a job description alone, they considered the strengths and passions of their members when giving new assignments. They discussed how evaluating each event or project after it concluded could become a norm in their team culture. We collaborated on what a simple written evaluation would look like, and how they might use the data it provided to improve and move forward toward a shared vision.

They talked about how they could help each other with larger projects. For instance, the worship leader was working on a new set for the platform, while the children's pastor needed to design a set for their upcoming Vacation Bible School. They decided to collaborate on a set that could be used for both. The team brainstormed ways to economize time and effort by combining events and outreaches.

Accountability provides structure and purpose. They seemed to welcome that. They could see themselves moving forward and accomplishing their goals. And, they did. With the help of more intentional accountability, this team was able to transition from a work group to a team.

My relationship with this team will continue. Throughout those initial six hours, I remained positive and optimistic about the team, their ability to achieve their goals, and my own ability to coach them. I believed in

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